Archive for akashic records

Planet Earth

How will global warming affect the Earth’s weather patterns? What is the likelihood of mass migrations as a result of the effects of global warming? How can we best prepare?

Global warming has already affected the Earth’s weather patterns. You can think of this process through the lens of chaos theory, though it does not exactly follow chaos theory. The Earth’s weather patterns are changing in ways that will lead to secondary dynamics and therefore secondary changes will then lead to a new level of dynamics. These build upon one another, layer after layer, creating the effects you see now and those to come. All weather patterns everywhere on Planet Earth are changing in response to global warming. Global warming is the material cause and catalyst for worldwide climate change. However, the Earth and humanity agreed upon the weather pattern changes long ago and the Earth has made these kinds of weather pattern changes time and time again. Just as your scientists have described the changes you are seeing now, some of your changes are quite radical. They are very small and very momentary compared to the larger history of Planet Earth in time/space continuum. The Earth has gone through ice ages and periods of great heat and that will continue to be true so that your perspective on global climate change makes it seem much more radical than it is from the perspective of Planet Earth. That being said, the effects on human lives and the survivability of the human race are radical.

Mass migrations of humans and animals are already occurring in some parts of the world. Huge numbers of people are moving in order to avoid particular weather patterns or in order to move toward particular weather patterns. This will become more and more true. Technology has enabled human beings to live in places that would have been relatively uninhabitable before certain technologies made them habitable. Those technologies will continue to mitigate the effects of mass migrations, but mass migrations will continue to increase. The most likely outcome 100 or 150 years from now, is that the patterns of where people live on Earth will be somewhat different and more closely aligned with the natural habitability of a place rather than the strains of an overpopulated Earth. In other words, you will have fewer people and they will be living in more naturally habitable places. Remember that this is 150 years away – the path to this reality will not be easy.

What is the likelihood of diseases and water shortages? How can we best use water, save water, connect with water and understand water?

Many people have asked about water recently because water is the primary resource for human beings. This goes beyond the fact that you physically need water before anything else in order to exist. You can delay dying of cold, heat or starvation, but you cannot lack water. Water is so necessary on a physical level. The Keepers are saying in a similar way, water is that necessary on a metaphysical level. Human beings never agreed to inhabit Planet Earth or to evolve on Planet Earth until the spirit and soul of Water had made its contract with you, just as the Earth has a contract with you. The Earth is a divine being who made a promise to live as this physical planet, to be embodied by it and to stay here both physically and in spirit to be a resource and to be in community with all other beings. Water is the very same thing. Water has a spirit and a soul and a journey of its own. In a sense you can say that water is your sister.

On a purely physical level, it is the properties of water that have enabled life to evolve. Not only the property of being liquid but the property of how it freezes and at what degree it freezes, that enables life to exist below the surface and for life to continue to evolve in the dormant seasons. It is the properties of water that makes this possible on a physical level. The energetic, nonmaterial properties of water also make it possible for HUMAN life to exist. Water holds space for the human spirit to exist on Planet Earth. The human spirit is different from the spirit of animals. You are not better than animals; you are not more evolved or more Enlightened than animals. The human spirit is just different from the spirit from all other living creatures on Planet Earth in that the human spirit has a particular relationship with its own divinity. It has a particular ability to understand and therefore be accountable for its own divinity that is different from the contracts of animals or of other living things. It is that space for the human spirit to be accessible and for you to be held accountable to, that is held energetically by the presence of water on the Planet.

One of the reasons there is so much water, the oceans, which are relatively undrinkable, that they take up such a massive space on Planet Earth, is to hold that energy of the human spirit. The ocean is holding a reservoir of spiritual or vibrational energy that is being accessed now by human beings as they go through Enlightenment. The water element, as a spiritual being, holds a vibration that enables you to connect with your emotions and your higher self at the same time. That is where the possibility for accountability lies. An animal can have an emotion and it can act out of that emotion but not necessarily be held accountable in terms of karma, in terms of its own divinity or evolution. If an animal becomes terrified and it bites or even kills, we understand that an animal was overcome by its emotions and cannot be held entirely accountable. A human being is held accountable for the behaviors, words, and even the thoughts that they execute in response to their emotions because human beings have this spiritual reservoir of energy in water that enables you to hold all of the parts in place at all times. This means that, in any moment, your true self includes your body, mind, subconsciousness, belief systems, spirit, intuition, and much more. It is a very long list of things that encompass your true self. It is because of your commitment from water and the connection you have with water that enables you to be these larger, more divine physical beings of Planet Earth.

The effect of global warming and water together, is that you will continue to see water as more precious. At a very basic physical level, you will continue to see water shortages — shortage of usable, drinkable water for human beings. As a human, you will continue to recognize how precious the physical resource of water is. The deeper level, or spiritual dimension of that, is you will continue to understand the preciousness of your emotional lives and your ability to live as human beings, being both of spirit and matter so that even as the preciousness of fresh water on a physical level raises in your awareness, so does the preciousness of every human life, no matter how short-lived, no matter how distant from yours.

One of the properties of water that is magnificently applicable to your Enlightenment process at this time on Planet Earth is cohesiveness. The fact that once two molecules of water are touching one another, it takes a greater force to pull them apart. This is the reason that once water is flowing through a tube, it creates a vacuum effect so that even without gravity, it continues to pull itself through the tube. It remains cohesive, it naturally is magnetized to itself and longs to be connected or to operate as a whole. This is one of the reasons that if you spill a drop of water on a table, that water remains together; it does not spread out in all directions unless there is a compelling reason from gravity or some other force. Water left to its own devices strives to stay connected to itself; to all the other molecules of water around it. Human beings work exactly this way. Human beings, when you are born, naturally want to be near one another; you love one another, you are connected and you can feel that you are connected with one another. Only through the very compelling forces of trauma, disconnection, hurtfulness, isolation and all of the ways that people are wounded, do you ever become convinced that you do not want to be around other people. The fact is, you were born to be together, you are inherently and indelibly connected to one another. Water demonstrates this for you, demonstrates both the power and the beauty of that.

How do we deal with people who will hoard resources as resources become scarcer? Is there anything we can do to change that? How can we help each other realize that we need one another to survive?

The answer to this is already being executed in some parts of the world. You have been working on this for decades as human beings in much of what you call international development. There is no single answer that will make this work across the human race. The question of resource allocation is equivalent to every other question in regard to the human race. Everything is answered by resource allocation and everything is caused by resource allocation. Fundamentally, as a human race, you will need to come to terms with the fact that resources, both physical and nonphysical, have been improperly and unfairly allocated based on human power systems, based on systems that give some people more power to get the resources that they need and others less power to get the resources that they need. As this becomes more obvious to everyone, all of you will need to step up to the plate and change the way you allocate resources. This is already happening. There is not much that the Records can offer about this on a larger scale.

On a smaller scale, in your individual lives, if the larger question of resource allocation is to be answered and brought into balance, it will only occur as each individual grapples with and finds a resolution for the question of resource allocation within their own lives. Many of you do not take the resources that you need. You do not take the time that you need to make a decision. You do not accept the money that you need or the gifts offered to you to help you be happy in your lives. Many others of you take more than is offered or find ways to co-opt that which is not yours in order to be more comfortable or in order to avoid feeling lonely or scarce. Each of you will need to ask the question, “What are the resources available in my life and how do I use them?” Some of you will need to give more, others of you will need to take more and for most of you, it will be a little bit of both. Doing that work in your individual lives will actually help propel the larger question of resource allocation forward. In an intangible sense, that question will often lead you to sharing more money, time or other resources that actually does help to fill the pot of the larger question.

The second thing is in regard to how you work with this in your personal life. The way the resolution will happen in a larger picture is, this is the bigger message that Planet Earth has for humanity at this time, the reason that you have all fallen out of balance in regard to resource allocation, both in your personal lives and on the larger human scale, is that you have lost one another. When human beings feel completely connected with other people, completely loved by other people and they feel a free flow of love for other people, naturally, you do not over consume or under consume your resources. Naturally you easily, without any strain, acknowledge together how resources can best be balanced for the good of all. It is only through the process of being isolated and wounded that you have lead yourself into these patterns of greed or lack. In order for that greater question of resource allocation to be resolved, you will need to find ways that people can be connected with one another.

In part, globalization is making this possible. Globalization is only beneficial if all of you take advantage of the ability to meet, get to know and fall in love with people with whom you would normally never have contact. As you build these bridges of caring for one another across the world, resource allocation falls into balance. If you have a dear friend living in a country with very few natural resources, it becomes more obvious to you that you need to share your resources with those around you. Even if you cannot reach your friend to share the resources with those who need it in your surroundings, it becomes more obvious. It is that light of compassion that is meant to be lit and fueled by globalization, that is for you to use in order to heal and resolve the isolation and trauma that has been guiding humanity for generations and generations. It is for you to reach out and build bridges of love and compassion that will eventually make it possible for you to heal your problems with resource allocation. (April, ’09)

What energies and experiences can we expect during the month of December 2008?

Clarity. December 2008 is like a big white light. For those of you who practice meditation, December 2008 is like the clarity that comes after sitting in silence for a long period of time. When you still your mind for a long enough time, even by accident when you daydream, you come to a moment of stillness. It happens occasionally for everyone. The energy of December 2008 is like that stillness; it is the pause between breaths, and it can provide the flash insight that occurs after surrender, after you give up the fight for whatever it is you may have been fighting for. December 2008 contains this energy.

That is not to say you are going to feel that kind of blissful clarity the entire month. This energy that is set for the month is what is available for you to access more often than you would at other times. December 2008 can be used like a blank slate — a time to reset the intentions, the motivations, and the patterns in your life. December 2008 is a time to disregard the things that have stood in your way before. You have done so much work to understand them, heal them and release them, that now in December 2008 you can simply disregard them. It is time to stop looking at the obstacles in your way, you can eliminate them at this point, but you must choose to stop the fight against them, for as long as you fight against them, they must exist. Consider this month that you can just cease engaging with them and explore what that might look like in your personal lives.

December 2008 is a time to recommit to your spiritual practices, be they part of a religion or something you have discovered in another way. Your spiritual practices have a window for success, peace, and joy during December 2008 that they normally do not. As much as possible, create space and time for solitude in your life during the month of December. A great deal of clarity will unfold if you will do so.

What are the best ways we can use or work with this energy?

Solitude will be beneficial. Also, imagine throughout the month of December 2008 that you carry a white flag. A white flag represents surrender; when someone waves a white flag they are telling their opposition that they given up the fight and that they will not cause harm. In December, one of the most useful things you can do is to carry in your heart a white flag and be willing to pull it out and wave it, metaphorically speaking, any time something is amiss. Any time something is not working for you in December, let your first response be to wave the white flag so to speak. Let your first response be to let go of what you might be fighting for, to set aside any resentments, to release any need you have to be on top or to be correct or to be seen or to be forgiven. Any of those interpersonal needs, set them aside, wave the white flag and let the people in your life know that you support them; you accept them as they are. Set aside your opinions and your judgments of yourself and others during the month of December. Let it be a time of peace. That is the most beneficial you can do for yourselves during the month of December 2008 because the energy is preset to be peaceful. You actually have to fight hard to have anything other than peace. So if you are experiencing something other than peace assume that is because you are fighting too hard and just set it down, set it aside.

Are there any power days or important days for us to know about in December 2008?

Yes there are. December 3 and 4 are like a star twinkling. Look for flashes of insight on these days; look for a sense of being able to stand above everything and look around with a broader perspective. Choose to see things from the perspective of your higher self on December 3 and 4. There is like a twinkly, sparkly star energy on these days.

During December 12 through 15 there is work to be done. During this time you may find some of your inner demons coming up. The patterns, belief systems, and struggles that you have carried with you will be evident during this window of time. They will be evident so that you can apply this energy in December to them. Imagine that you carry with you a little box of unresolved issues that continually trip you up and get in your way. It is a gift to yourself to open that box in the midst of the white light that is flooding the planet during December, for then all of those issues are exposed to the light and they are more easily resolved — they become more enlightened. Do not be afraid to acknowledge your flaws, your downfalls, your mistakes, and your doubts. Let yourself see these things on December 12 through15, because if you let yourself see them, you will find that they are not so difficult after all. You will find more forgiveness and a stronger sense of harmony and peace to apply to them than you normally do. This is a perfect time to acknowledge and make amends for your mistakes.

December 23 is a day to engage your power; it is a day when your sense of your power and your truth is heightened, so it will be important on December 23 to be willing to celebrate the truth and the perspective of other people. Be willing to see that your truth can coexist with the truth of another person. You do not need to decide that one is right or the other is wrong. Allow yourself to be celebrated and celebrate those around you on December 23.

December 29 you will find an initiation of the month of January — an entirely new energy that comes in during the month of January. On December 29, pay close attention to the thoughts, ideas, and feelings that arise for you. Take note of them. The things you think and the things you feel and the situations you find yourselves in on December 29 will tell you a lot about where you are going and what issues are arising in the new cycle that begins after the white light of December. A new cycle is initiated, a new cycle of growth that will continue throughout the coming months. December 29 will give you a preview of what that will look like for you on a personal level. Pay attention, take note and refer back to those notes as the future months unfold.

Is there any final thing the Keepers have to say about the month of December 2008?

Let it be simple, let it be easy, just let it be. This is a time not to miss the opportunity to infuse yourselves with the white light of the divine during this month. It is a golden opportunity. Do not miss it; do not distract yourself from it by fighting or holding onto resentments or arguing or getting stuck on your expectations. Dis-attach yourself from your ego, let yourself relax and enjoy the world around you rather than trying to fix it or change it. This is the best way to work with December. In December, it is vitally important that you really take that advice to heart. Do not miss this beautiful opportunity to stand in your most gracious self. You have earned it, but you still must choose to do it!

Above is the Looking Ahead version of the Message, channeled over one month in advance. Below is the Monthly Update, channeled several days before the month begins.

If the month of December will be like a bright white light of clarity, how can we access this as we go through the whole month?

Sometimes there is a download of energy available for humanity when a window opens to the higher dimensions and you automatically download the energy. In this case, everyone processes energy and it downloads into you. The thing that happens in this white light energy of December is more like a field that you have all moved into. What you do with the field is up to you. That being said, it is not going to be possible for people to completely disregard the white light energy. It is infusing everything so that there is a sense of peace being more available, a sense of clarity, love and simplicity being more available than usual so that is inevitably going to affect everyone. You are not exactly receiving a download unless you ask for it, look for it, or work on getting it. You will not have to work hard. It is totally available. You are surrounded in this field of light.

If you want to use the light in particular ways or you want to be sure to take advantage of that light this month, then it will require you to take action. The best way you can take advantage of this white light energy is to build peacefulness in your everyday life this month. Give yourself more time for solitude and for ease this month than you normally do. It is in moments of simplicity that you will be infused. When you take a walk or sit back and look at the beautiful meal you have prepared, or stop what you are doing and sit down for a few moments with a loved one, it is in these moments that you stop and simplify that you will find yourself working the most efficiently with the white light energy that is available this month.

Is there any particular way that we will know that we have accessed the white light energy? Will there be any sort of physical, emotional or energetic sensations to know that we have plugged into the field? Once we have plugged into the field, how will that affect us as individuals?

Yes, there are. It is not so much that you are plugging into the field, you are in the field. You are not separate from it; it is infusing everything. Imagine what it looks like when you are walking through the fog – everything around you is white. You cannot plug into it or separate yourself from it so it is inevitable that you will be a part of it. You can do different things with the fog. You can allow it to give you a sense of quiet and peace or you can allow it to give you a sense of fear. It is not so much that you need to plug in, it is just that if you want to use it in particular ways, you need to decide what those ways are and actually use it for those things.

The way that you will know that you are accessing it and using it is to imagine that you are a camera. Imagine that you are a camera and that someone comes along and adjusts you and puts your lens into focus. Imagine what the camera feels like when the picture comes into focus. It is like a feeling of alignment that is so whole, so clear and so right, that you physically feel it in your body. It doesn’t matter what you see through the picture, as long as you have that sense of ease and clarity that comes when you are in alignment. All of you have had this feeling before in particular points in your lives. There are just certain moments when you suddenly know exactly what you need to do when hesitation is gone, when doubt is gone, when you just suddenly know something – that is the sense of ease that comes with clarity. That is the kind of experience that you are capable of having over and over again this month if you will give yourself the time.

It is really just a matter of letting time envelope you rather than propel you forward. Let it envelope you, let yourself sit back and rest in the arms of time. Let there be moments when you are not tracking anything at all and see what comes. More than anything, you will feel a sense of peace as if someone turned the volume down in the world for you for just a few moments. Every time you do that you can know that you are working directly with that white light energy. Please be assured that even if you cannot find a quiet moment or you do not feel like you are doing this quite well, know that the fact that the energy is here for everyone means that everyone in a way is adjusting to it so that there is more peace in the world. Even if you feel like you are not doing your best at it, know that peace is still increasing. This is just simply a time when more peace is available for everyone on the planet.

Is the peace we feel a bridge to something else? Is this energy that we feel in December another step on the bridge of where we are all going?

Yes, absolutely it is. Really the best way you can think of this is this is like the pause between steps. This is a time to regroup but it is necessary that you do this in order to move forward with integrity. Something you will find happening in terms of your progress as a human race is you are going to find during this month that a lot of people change their minds, particularly about long held belief systems or rigid paradigms that people have been attached to or trapped by. You are going to find that a lot of people are changing their minds this month. As a human race, you have changed radically in the last six months and that change has been very evident in the last two or three months as your economy has unraveled across the world — everyone is readjusting. There is no question in anyone’s mind that change is afoot. The benefit, or the way that December helps move you all forward, is it gives you that vitally important pause between breaths. It is the same function that is served by the instant between heartbeats. The human heart takes a brief pause between every beat and the collective amount of time that those pauses entail is enough to keep your heart rested enough to keep going. If your heart did not pause between beats, you would not accumulate that rest and your heart would give out much earlier in your life than it does. December is like that pause between beats. This pause between steps, this moment between breaths that December offers you, it will enable you to move forward, it will enable you to stay in integrity and deal with the challenges coming next year.

The way that it moves you forward is by letting you take a moment when you are not moving forward. That is why it is so vitally important that you really move toward peacefulness this month rather than – we are not giving you the direction to move toward integrity, move toward any goals, and move toward rising to any challenges or even to try to take accountability which is kind of always the direction that we give. The only thing you really need to do this month is move toward peace; step into peace. It is going to enrich you. It is in that peacefulness that you will find that people start to think a little more broadly. They begin to change their minds. Many, many people have healed some of their most rigid paradigms. It is only in December that they will notice that they are no longer attached to those any more. Watch for people to change their minds and forgive one another. Resist the urge to say, “I told you so” this month, instead, just celebrate when you see that someone changes their mind toward the light in whatever way that appears.

What is likely to occur with the global and US economy during December 2008?

It will continue to unravel. You will find a little bit of a sense of stability. One of the paradigm shifts that are necessary as you go through the unraveling of your economy is to begin to operate on a different set of expectations. You are going to see – people talk about the retail season during the holidays – particularly in the US but also in other parts of the world, particularly in Europe, as a time when expectations are high and companies count on higher profits based on the retail season. There is an adjustment being made where you are learning to base your expectations based upon what is rather than what has been before. Those companies who have adjusted their expectations will find themselves thriving and those companies who are still trying to hold onto expectations from previous years, who are going to compare their bottom line this month with the bottom line from last year are going to continue to struggle and falter. You will see some adjustment in the ways that you expect the economy to look during this season. You will see more doom and gloom messages than are warranted. The economy itself has already adjusted itself far more than you realize so you all are adjusting your expectations. You are going to hear some heavy handed messages in the news about the failure of the retail system and the doom of the economy and stuff like that but it looks like actually nothing really changes that much. The process of the global economy is you are unweaving it so that you can weave it together in a stronger more holistic sense. That unweaving is continuing. It is not necessarily worse in December than it was in November or will be in January. It is just another step in the process.

Avoid getting swept up in the fearful messages in the media, avoid attaching your feelings to what you choose to spend or not spend your money on this month. Continue to move forward with what feels right for you rather than on the expectations of others. That is the best way to deal with the economy as it continues to unravel. Remember it is not unraveling in a cataclysmic way; it feels cataclysmic for many people but it is actually happening slowly enough that all of you have time to adjust. I have already given information about that in previous channelings. That is the way you can expect to see the economy operate during the month of December.

I noticed in the previous channeling for December that it says we can take out those flaws and heavier energies that we see of ourselves and apply the light to them and will find that there is more forgiveness, harmony, and peace. Is it all right for us to also do that for others – to direct the light for them?

Yes it is all right to do that for others provided that is all you do. In other words, it can be easy for people to do two things at once when they are trying to direct the light or help heal and release others. Offerng light is a perfect thing to do. Often people then also attach expectations to that person taking the light and using it or that person making particular changes. It is vitally important that if you feel interested in directing light toward others to first, every time you do it, consider that they have a higher self who knows exactly what they need and who will resist light when they do not need the light or when they need to experience a little more density. Give yourself a mantra or intention to trust their higher self; to do with the light what it most needs and what they most need. Once you do that, go ahead and send all the light you want to. Send all the forgiveness, hope and love that you want, knowing that you have no control and it does not make sense to get attached to any outcomes based on your sending of the light. It is possible that all that light will bounce back on you and that is fine. Or, it is possible that all that light will get absorbed and that is fine too.

As long as you can release any of your own patterns, this is a message for people in general, because this is such a generalized thing that people do, any of your own patterns of hopes that you may be the hero or hopes that they might become nicer to you, any of your own expectations, if you can release those and really turn the steering wheel over to the higher self, then you are free to direct light in any way that you want to. If you are directing light that is attached to an expectation, really then all you are doing is you are trying to manipulate energy and engaging it in the same pattern or same negotiation that you are engaging with that person on the surface. If you have been trying to talk this person into healing for two years and they have never listened to you, so you just try to direct the light at them instead, it will bounce off in the same way. If you do not release your own expectations and your own investment, then all you are doing is playing the same game in energy that you have been doing in person. That is the single guideline, but as long as you can release your expectations send all the light you want. It is a beautiful thing to do.

Is there any more information that they want to share about power days or beneficial days? Have the power days changed or have any been added?

The days are the same. There is a little more to add about December 23. This is kind of a potent day when you can rise to the occasion in a sense. The thing that is evident now that we are a little closer to that day is just how much the power of laughter can benefit you on that day. Rise to the challenge; rise up to what is right. Step into your power that day in whatever way it looks. Be sure to include a sense of humor. That is going to make it far more powerful for you and everyone else.

There is some additional information about December 29, 30 and 31. These days really are the initiation of January. While the month of December is all about peace and stepping back and letting things be, beginning on the 28 or 29 that will no longer be the guideline. Beginning on the 28 or 29 it is time to step up and start moving. It is time to step up and start paying attention to what is working and what is not working in your life. It is time to buckle your seatbelts so to speak. Be aware that when you come to the 29 that you will be feeling a different energy. It is a much more bumpy, active energy and that is fine. Know that this is just the beginning of you launching yourself into a lot more fun, powerful, interesting life stuff in the coming year. Do not panic when you feel the energy shift on the 29; it is meant to be, it is part of January. All is well.

Is there any final message about December?

If you engage in one activity this month, let it be greeting people with the biggest heart, the biggest bear hug and the most celebratory message. Greet everyone with an open expression of joy at seeing them. If you could just spend the month opening the door and greeting people with a big smile and a big hug over and over again, you would be accomplishing the energy of this month perfectly. We have already given you the guideline about silence and solitude, all of that is true, but that peace and that resonance of peace, the way to really instill it in yourselves, in your lives and in your hearts, is to share it and exchange it with as much love as possible. Let yourselves, regardless of what holidays you celebrate, there are so many holidays people celebrate in December, but let the season of it, let that message of peace really ring true. It is not always true that December’s energy really coincides with that message of peace. This year it really does. Take advantage of every opportunity you can find to greet each other with love and express just pure and utter joy for being with one another. Let your love for each other resonate and set that peace in stone inside of yourself so you can carry it with you into the next year.

The Awakening:

A time comes in your life when you finally get it when in the midst of all your fears and insanity you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out ENOUGH! fighting and crying or struggling to hold on. And, like a child quieting down after a blind tantrum, your sobs begin to subside, you shudder once or twice, you blink back your tears and through a mantle of wet lashes you begin to look at the world through new eyes.
This is your Awakening
You realize it's time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change or for happiness, safety and security to come galloping over the next horizon. You come to terms with the fact that he is not Prince Charming and you are not Cinderella and in the real world there aren't always Fairy Tale endings (or beginnings for that matter) and that any guarantee of "happily ever after" must begin with you and in the process a sense of serenity is born of acceptance.
You awaken to the fact you are not perfect and not everyone will always love, appreciate or approve of who or what you are and that's OK. (They are entitled to their own views and opinions.) And you learn the importance of loving and championing yourself and in the process a sense of new found confidence is born of self approval.
You stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you (or didn't do for you) and you learn that the only thing you can really count on is the unexpected. You learn people don't always say what they mean or mean what they say and not everyone will always be there for you and that it's not always about you. So, you learn to stand on your own and to take care of yourself and in the process a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance.
You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept people as they are, and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties, and in the process a sense of peace and contentment is born of forgiveness. You realize that much of the way you view yourself, and the world around you, is as a result of all the messages and opinions that have been ingrained into your psyche. And you begin to sift through all the things you've been fed about how you should behave, how you should look, and how much you should weigh, what you should wear, and where you should shop, and what you should drive, how and where you should live, and what you should do for a living, who you should sleep with, who you should marry, and what you should expect of a marriage, the importance of having and raising children or what you owe your parents.
You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view. And you begin reassessing and redefining who you are what you really stand for. You learn the difference between wanting and needing and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you've outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with, and in the process you learn to go with your instincts.
You learn it is truly in giving that we receive. And there is power and glory in creating and contributing and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a "consumer" looking for your next fix. You learn principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a by-gone era but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build a life. You learn you don't know everything, its not your job to save the world and you can't teach a pig to sing. You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility and the importance of setting boundaries and learning to say NO. You learn the only cross to bear is the one you choose to carry and that martyrs get burned at the stake.
Then you learn about love. Romantic love and familial love. How to love, how much to give in love, when to stop giving and when to walk away. You learn not to project your needs or your feelings onto a relationship. You learn you will not be more beautiful, more intelligent, more lovable or important because of the man or woman on your arm or the child that bears your name.
You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be. You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes. You learn just as people grow and change so it is with love and you learn you don't have the right to demand love on your terms just to make you happy.
You learn that alone does not mean lonely And you look in the mirror and come to terms with the fact you will never be a size 5 or a perfect 10 and you stop trying to compete with the image inside your head and agonizing over how you "stack up."
You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs. You learn feelings of entitlement are perfectly OK .and that it is your right to want things and to ask for the things that you want and that sometimes it is necessary to make demands.
You come to the realization you deserve to be treated with love, kindness, sensitivity and respect and you won't settle for less. And, you allow only the hands of a lover who cherishes you to glorify you with her or his touch and in the process you internalize the meaning of self-respect.
And you learn your body really is your temple. And you begin to care for it and treat it with respect. You begin eating a balanced diet, drinking more water and taking more time to exercise. You learn fatigue diminishes the spirit and can create doubt and fear. So you take more time to rest. And, just as food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and to play.
You learn, that for the most part, in life you get what you believe you deserve and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
You learn anything worth achieving is worth working for and wishing for something to happen is different from working toward making it happen. More importantly, you learn in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance. You also learn no one can do it all alone and that it's OK to risk asking for help.
You learn the only thing you must truly fear is the great robber baron of all time FEAR itself. You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know whatever happens you can handle it and to give in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your terms. And you learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom. You learn life isn't always fair, you don't always get what you think you deserve and sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people. On these occasions you learn not to personalize things. You learn no one is punishing you or failing to answer your prayers. It's just life happening.
And you learn to deal with evil in its most primal state the ego.
You learn negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you and poison the universe that surrounds you. You learn to admit when you are wrong and to building bridges instead of walls.
You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot shower.
Slowly, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself and you to make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never ever settle for less than your heart's desire. And you hang a wind chime outside your window so you can listen to the wind. And you make it a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful possibility. Finally, with courage in your heart and with faith by your side you take a stand, you take a deep breath and you begin to design the life you want to live as best as you can.
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May God protect You…

May God protect you
From scary nights,
from hasty flights;
From too much food,
from a somber mood;
From ringing bells,
from self-made hells;
From sickish pains,
from dishonest gains;
From excessive needs,
from tricky deeds;
From foolish quarrels,
from resting on laurels;
From silly fears,
from idle tears;
From forgotten lines,
And from all bad times.
We pray,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
from The Irish, p.55
by Fr. Andrew Greeley

Dawn of New Beginnings

O God,
We thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the ocean and streams, for the towering hills and the whispering wind, for the trees and green grass.
We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of fields of golden wheat, and taste autumn's fruit, rejoice in the feel of snow, and smell the breath of spring flowers.
Grant us a heart opened wide to all this beauty; and save us from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory.
For each new dawn is filled with infinite possibilities for new beginnings and new discoveries. Life is constantly changing and renewing itself. In this new day of new beginnings with God, all things are possible. We are restored and renewed in a joyous awakening to the wonder that our lives are and, yet, can be.
Amen.

Earth Day Prayer

O GOD,
we thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the ocean and streams, for the towering hills and the whispering wind, for the trees and green grass.
We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of fields of golden wheat, and taste autumn's fruit, and rejoice in the feel of snow, and smell the breath of spring flowers.
GRANT US a heart opened wide to all this beauty; and save us from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory.

Keeping It In Focus

Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote many years ago:
"There is no place where God is not. God is there in a thousand wonders, upholding rocky barriers, filling the buttercups with their perfume and refreshing the lonely pines with the breath of his mouth. Descend…into the lowest depths of the ocean, where undisturbed water sleeps, and the very sand is motionless in unbroken quiet, but the glory of the Lord is there, revealing its excellence in the silent palace of the sea. Borrow the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, but God is there."
His beauty is stamped in all of creation:
The glory of God can be seen
from the smallest raindrop
to the mighty flash of lightning;
from the tiny rosebud
to the huge magnolia blossom;
from the rich, fertile soil of the Mississippi Delta
to the arid, dusty land of the desert.
We can see His stamp of glory in all the world,
from the music of a sparkling brook
to the majestic tumbling waterfall;
from the gnarled, gentle hands of a loving grandfather
to the birth-fresh fragility of a baby’s fingernail;
from the silence of the stars to the peal of thunder;
from the mirror-like smoothness of a placid lake
to the wind-driven thunderous waves smashing on the shore.
In the fresh greenery of the spring; in the dazzling color of autumn; in the joy of discovery on a baby’s face; and in the fulfillment and meaning of the New Birth, we can see the glory of God.